The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the High Court stay order on the eviction of Kallyanpur slum in the capital.
It also issued an order to dispose of the High Court ruling on the eviction within four weeks. A High Court bench led by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury will dispose of the ruling.
A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha gave the order.
In 2003, when the Ministry of Housing and Public Works took an initiative to evict the slum, legal aid organisation Ain o Salish Kendra and two slum dwellers filed a writ petition with the High Court.
On December 28 that year, a vacation bench of the court stayed the eviction and issued a ruling.
The following year, a regular bench of the court also passed the same order.
In 2006, the ministry again issued a letter to evict the slum and Ain o Salish Kendra again moved to the court, which on June 25 gave a stay order on the eviction.
The stay order was extended several times and on January 17, 2007 the High Court extended the stay order until the disposal of its previous ruling.
As the ministry on January 10 this year again issued a letter to police for assistance in an eviction drive, the petitioners moved to the High Court with a supplementary petition which finally led to the fresh stay order on January 21.